Like many internet strategies formulated in the late-1990s, the plan to build a website for FinanceAsia was bold and far-reaching. This was the height of the dotcom boom, after all, when it was thought that every company needed a cleverly designed, fully interactive website that could be launched at lightning speed. Those who ignored this imperative would be left standing in a cloud of dust while the rest raced ahead into a digital future.
The internet, we were led to believe, was going to transform media companies from simple purveyors of news and editorial opinion into vast content aggregators. Readers would be able to navigate seamlessly between websites and, in no time at...